Allred jumps out to lead with sizzling round of 64

The Ashland native matches his career-best round in Miami

MIAMI — Jason Allred matched his career-best round on the Web.com Tour with a 7-under-par 64 on Thursday to grab the opening-round lead at the Miccosukee Championship at the Miccosukee Golf and Country Club.

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Posted Oct. 12, 2012 at 12:01 AM

Posted Oct. 12, 2012 at 12:01 AM

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MIAMI — Jason Allred matched his career-best round on the Web.com Tour with a 7-under-par 64 on Thursday to grab the opening-round lead at the Miccosukee Championship at the Miccosukee Golf and Country Club.

The Ashland native leads Christopher DeForest by one stroke.

The former Pepperdine University star played bogey-free golf and tied his previous low round, a pair of 64s at the 2006 Rheem Classic and the 2006 Mark Christopher Charity Classic. His 64 was just one shy of the lowest first-round score in tournament history, set in 2010 by Andrew Svoboda and Brandt Jobe.

Coming into the event, Allred's best 2012 rounds were a pair of 65s, the most recent coming at the Mylan Classic in September. He also had a 65 at the Utah Championship in July.

Each round of the tournament is being televised on The Golf Channel. It airs for two hours on a taped-delay basis tonight through Sunday at 4:30 p.m.

"It was nice to get off to a good start like I did with birdies on Nos. 2 and 3," said Allred, who played in the second group in the morning wave. "It was beautiful to start early in the morning like we did and to see the sun rise and do what you love to do."

"The last couple of weeks have been a little frustrating and discouraging because I feel my game has been close," he added. "I just haven't had good results, but today was really enjoyable to see it all come together. My caddie and I said during a practice round earlier in the week that we just have to recommit to the process and be great at what we can control."

In his third full season on the Web.com Tour, Allred is 78th on the 2012 money list with $66,767 in earnings, with his best showing a tie for 12th at the Mylan Classic.

He knows time is running out to climb the money list and improve his status for next year. There are just two full-field events remaining.

"I think in the last couple of weeks I was putting too much into trying to shoot a good score," he said. "I put a lot of pressure on myself and didn't play with a lot of freedom or joy. With so few events remaining, it's a hard trap not to get yourself into when you're trying so hard to do well. Most guys would agree it's not the right thing to do."

Allred had missed cuts in the previous two Web.com events.

Allred's start included birdies on five of the first seven holes and his 5-under 30 was tied for the third-lowest front nine score in tournament history. It was just one shy of the record set by Bryce Molder in 2004 and matched six years later by Keegan Bradley. Allred's 5-under 30 was the seventh in tournament history.

Allred's 64 overshadowed a solid day by Christopher DeForest, who posted a 6-under 65. The rookie from the University of Illinois has struggled a bit in his first season on the Web.com Tour with just one top-25 finish to his credit, a tie for 11th at the Midwest Classic in August.

DeForest got off to a slow start with consecutive bogeys on his first two holes and was 1 over after six holes. But he turned things around after a bogey at No. 6, making birdies on seven of his last 12 holes, including consecutive birdies on Nos. 16 to 18.

DeForest one-putted eight of nine holes on the back nine. In all, he had nine birdies during his round to lead all players and just 22 putts which also led the field.

"I chipped in early in my round on No. 4 to get back to 1 over and then made another bogey at No. 6, but from that point on, I played pretty solid golf and hit a lot of good shots," DeForest said. "Those first couple of holes are pretty tough when you're playing into the prevailing wind like that and I think if you check at the end of the day those holes with be playing among the hardest."

After nearly an inch of rain on Wednesday, lift, clean and place rules were in effect in the first round.